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There are no changes in Nabucco pipeline consortium's shareholder structure, an official of Nabucco Gas Pipeline International GmbH told Trend news agency.

"According to the Nabucco consortium steering committee, there are no changes in the company's shareholder structure at the present time," the official wrote in an e-mail on Tuesday.

The Nabucco project initially envisaged the construction of a pipeline with the length at 3,900 kilometers from the Georgian-Turkish and Iraqi-Turkish borders to Baumgarten in Austria. Nabucco Gas Pipeline International has proposed to the Shah Deniz consortium a new concept of the project, a short-cut version of Nabucco project, according to which the pipeline will be laid from the Turkish-Bulgarian border to Baumgarten.

Gas to be produced during the second stage of Azerbaijani Shah Deniz gas condensate field development in the Caspian Sea is considered as the main source for the Nabucco pipeline, which is expected to run through Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Austria. First gas is expected to be exported around the end of 2017.

Reportedly the Hungarian MOL, which is represented in Nabucco project through its natural gas distribution arm FGSZ, decided to stop injecting funds into the pipeline project, however, the company may reconsider its position on the planned capital increase following the Shah Deniz consortium's decision.

According to the reports, FGSZ's share in the consortium has been already dropped by two percent. Earlier last week Dow Jones reported quoting the company's Chief Executive Janos Zsuga that the share of FGSZ in Nabucco West may soon decrease.

The Nabucco Gas Pipeline International official said Nabucco continues to move forward on the basis of an approved budget, adding that any changes in the shareholder structure are subject to a decision of the Nabucco Steering Committee.

The project's current shareholders are Bulgarian Energy Holding, Romanian Transgaz, Turkish Botas, Austrian OMV, German RWE and Hungary's FGSZ, and each of them holds a 16.67-percent share.

Nabucco West project's debt to equity ratio is set to be 70:30 -- that means Nabucco's shareholders will invest 30 percent of the total cost of the project, and the remaining 70 percent will be covered with loans.

In June the Shah Deniz consortium selected Nabucco West as the single pipeline option for the potential export of Shah Deniz Stage 2 gas to Central Europe. The final decision on a pipeline export route is expected in 2013.